[Q] 4.0 sgs2 carrier-free update - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello everyone,
I am a bit confused about the new update, its the first time a major update comes out since i got this first androis device.
I read that they release the updates slowly, to carrier free devices first then its upto the carrier to release it to their customers. Am i correct so far?
If that is the case, i have 3 friends with sgs2's using Orange carrier here in Switzerland, all 3 got their 4.0 updates, some through kies and 1 directly through his phone.
On the other hand i have a carrier-free sgs2 since it was released back in may and i still didnt get the update till today. Unfortunately i dont know anyone else here in Switzerland that is using a carrier-free sgs2 to see if its the same with them.
So my question is, is it normal for a carrier-free sgs2 get the update after carrier specific device?
Thanks in advance

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your phone has to be running switz official rom in the first place for kies to work.
europe official ics is out already use odin and flash.
using odin is as official as kies update mind you.

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Thanks for the reply atfish,
How do i know what "rom" am i running? for what country or region? because i bought mine off a store here in Switzerland.
I dont know what odin is but i can google it.

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Smokie Smokerson said:
Thanks for the reply atfish,
How do i know what "rom" am i running? for what country or region? because i bought mine off a store here in Switzerland.
I dont know what odin is but i can google it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use Sttings -> About Phone to get all the information about what firmware is installed on your phone and yes, you should definitely google for Odin.
Concerning the upgrade to ICS you can wait until your provider (Swisscom like me?) is kind of ready or as said by atifsh use Odin and flash the ICS Open Europe version - this is what I did .

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Hello frxp,
I am not part of any carrier, when i got my sgs2 i paid the full price and got it without a contract so i dont have to be locked to just the one since i travel alot.
But the carrier service im using is Sunrise (its a horrible carrier but i get 75% of my final bill as part of my company deal so its waaaay cheaper then anything else), so is the update connected with what carrier im using even if i didnt get the phone with them with a contract?
I mean do i have to wait for Sunrise to upgrade their customers for me to get the update as well even if im using a carrier-free phone?

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Smokie Smokerson said:
Hello frxp,
I am not part of any carrier, when i got my sgs2 i paid the full price and got it without a contract so i dont have to be locked to just the one since i travel alot.
Locked or unlocked is not the firmware .
But the carrier service im using is Sunrise (its a horrible carrier but i get 75% of my final bill as part of my company deal so its waaaay cheaper then anything else), so is the update connected with what carrier im using even if i didnt get the phone with them with a contract?
No its the original provider of the phone .
Nothing to do with what sim card/network you use .
Choice update via KIES when the phone provider updates .
Or join XDA Developers forum and flash a stock Samsung rom via ODIN as soon as they are released by Samsung .
But you will need to read the FAQS GUIDES and INSTRUCTIONS .
FAQ
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1065995
NEW HERE
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1134290
bible
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1473577
Guide
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1125282
Stock Roms .and csc
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1075278
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

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Hello JJegan,
Thanks alot for the thorough reply and will follow it.
I nust have one last question, what does "provider" stands for?
I thought it the provider is the same as the carrier. Like in Switzerland we have Swisscom, Orange and Sunrise.

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Provider as in who provided the phone .
Eg my phone was sold by O2 with O2 firmware and codes but its unlocked and i use it on TMobile network . Still has all the same product codes from O2 and Kies would recognize it as an O2 phone for any update .
Not that it actually is as its custom GB rom most definitely not ICS .
jje

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hello,
sorry for reopening an old topic, but i still didnt get the update yet and i want some clarification.
please check the image i added with this post.
i still dont get how can the update be out for switzerland for Sim-Free phones and i still didnt get it. im trying not to upgrade manually and do it through the normal update process.
so does anyone know why my phone in particular is not having the upgrade yet when its supposed to be out for the whole country?
thank you in advance
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ICS update is not supposed anything .
Its released by the vendor for provider supplied phones up to the vendor when .
Stock Samsung roms are released as and when by Samsung you ask Samsung when .
Nobody on XDA can tell you when Samsung are releasing an update .
Sim Free is nothing to do with updates it simply means the phone is not locked to a network .
Kies has the update when it gets the updated .
You can use CHECKFUS to double check if its on the server .
Alternative is to join XDA DEVELOPERS forum and flash generic stock Samsung firmware yourself .
jje

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fxrb said:
Use Sttings -> About Phone to get all the information about what firmware is installed on your phone and yes, you should definitely google for Odin.
Concerning the upgrade to ICS you can wait until your provider (Swisscom like me?) is kind of ready or as said by atifsh use Odin and flash the ICS Open Europe version - this is what I did .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My SGS2 is PDA:I9100XWKI4, phone:I9100XXKI1, CSC:I9100OXXKI2.
Sam has an empty field for "Country/Carrier", so I have no idea where it belongs. I just know I don't have ICS. It seems to me that they go by PDA.
I can see that there are multiple Open Europe firmwares with 4.0.3:
I9100XXKP8 4.0.3 2011 December I9100OXAKP8
I9100XXKPA 4.0.3 2012 January I9100OXAKPA
I9100XXLP1 4.0.3 2012 January I9100OXALP1
I9100XXLP2 4.0.3 2012 January I9100OXALP2
I9100XXLPH 4.0.3 2012 February I9100OXALPH
I9100XXLPJ 4.0.3 2012 February I9100OXALPJ
Which one may I use? What are the differences amongst them?
Is there a rule here? Is the earliest the best one, because for some reason it goes firs? Or the latest one, because some errors were resolved?
What I understand is that if I use some of there, data will be wiped, so I have to restore backup and reinstall all app? It's a lot of job...I'd like to avoid it.

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the last three letter and number tell you the year, month and version released.
L = 2012, P= february, J= 10 the version released.
Always use the latest because it has the most bug fixes and less FC= Forced Closes because of incompatibility in apps.
!st time you go from Gingerbread to ICS, it is recommended you do a comperle wipe, to avoid bootlooping, you will only lose apps that you have download from the market or play store as it is known now. If you have backed everything up to your google account, the back up will be restored when you sign back in to your google account.
After that you can use no wipe versions which will not require you to reinstall your data or apps but some of the apps may require to clear the cache because of how the data was first stored may not work with ICS, the app itself will work fine.

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Cosmic Blue said:
the last three letter and number tell you the year, month and version released.
L = 2012, P= february, J= 10 the version released.
Always use the latest because it has the most bug fixes and less FC= Forced Closes because of incompatibility in apps.
!st time you go from Gingerbread to ICS, it is recommended you do a comperle wipe, to avoid bootlooping, you will only lose apps that you have download from the market or play store as it is known now. If you have backed everything up to your google account, the back up will be restored when you sign back in to your google account.
After that you can use no wipe versions which will not require you to reinstall your data or apps but some of the apps may require to clear the cache because of how the data was first stored may not work with ICS, the app itself will work fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, can you please explain why P= february? In mine current I9100XWKI4, I assume that K is 2011, what is W and I?
Then the best option would be:
I9100XXLPJ 4.0.3 2012 February I9100OXALPJ Open Europe
But, CF-Root-SGS2_XX_OXA_LPJ-v5.3-CWM5.zip has problems mounting secure storage, same as LPH. I should wait LPQ or LPS Open Europe then.
What's the best way to upgrade: ODIN, Kies, CWM Recovery?
I'd like to go without wipe first time, to try to keep apps, if it doesn't work, I can do it again as you wrote.

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TimAnd said:
OK, can you please explain why P= february? In mine current I9100XWKI4, I assume that K is 2011, what is W and I?
Then the best option would be:
I9100XXLPJ 4.0.3 2012 February I9100OXALPJ Open Europe
But, CF-Root-SGS2_XX_OXA_LPJ-v5.3-CWM5.zip has problems mounting secure storage, same as LPH. I should wait LPQ or LPS Open Europe then.
What's the best way to upgrade: ODIN, Kies, CWM Recovery?
I'd like to go without wipe first time, to try to keep apps, if it doesn't work, I can do it again as you wrote.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odin is stock roms
CWM is custom roms
KIES is official upgrade path .
jje

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TimAnd said:
OK, can you please explain why P= february? In mine current I9100XWKI4, I assume that K is 2011, what is W and I?
Then the best option would be:
I9100XXLPJ 4.0.3 2012 February I9100OXALPJ Open Europe
But, CF-Root-SGS2_XX_OXA_LPJ-v5.3-CWM5.zip has problems mounting secure storage, same as LPH. I should wait LPQ or LPS Open Europe then.
What's the best way to upgrade: ODIN, Kies, CWM Recovery?
I'd like to go without wipe first time, to try to keep apps, if it doesn't work, I can do it again as you wrote.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best is to use this thread by Intratech. What I do is look for a ROM with CSC equal to AUT (= Switzerland) or a Multi-CSC containing AUT (amongst many others). At the present time this results in XXLPQ. The method to use in this case is ODIN or even better Mobile ODIN.
I am not absolutely sure but I think you can interprete the 3 letter/digit version number as follows: 1=1, 2=2, etc, A=10, B=11, ..., Z=35. Then you get:
LPQ = 21.25.26
KJ3 = 20.19.3
From this one can tell that LPQ is kind of > then KJ3 and therefore LPQ is the newer version. This 'rule' is take from this thread by Chainfire and to me it makes quite a lot of sense

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JJEgan said:
ICS update is not supposed anything .
Its released by the vendor for provider supplied phones up to the vendor when .
Stock Samsung roms are released as and when by Samsung you ask Samsung when .
Nobody on XDA can tell you when Samsung are releasing an update .
Sim Free is nothing to do with updates it simply means the phone is not locked to a network .
Kies has the update when it gets the updated .
You can use CHECKFUS to double check if its on the server .
Alternative is to join XDA DEVELOPERS forum and flash generic stock Samsung firmware yourself .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My question was simple... how do i know what "Vendor" my phone is from/using so i can have an idea when it will be released.

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Smokie Smokerson said:
My question was simple... how do i know what "Vendor" my phone is from/using so i can have an idea when it will be released.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
F**** its simple if you dont know as the purchaser then all you can do is estimate from the Product Code if its not been changed and that requires a simple search on XDA or via Google .
Or look on Sammobile.com
Or contact the vendor and ask them the question .
jje